1038 -- Death of Rav Hai Gaon, last of the Geonim of Pumpedita, responsa author.

1282 --

The X-tian 'Easter Day' is the Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox (anywhere from March 22 to April 25), as settled in 325CE. But Easter is from the pagan spring goddess Eostre, a Germanic version of the Scandinavian fertility goddess Frigga.

On or about this day, at Inverkeithing, Fife, a priest called John recaptured some of the old spirit: he paraded a larger-than-life model of his genitalia on a pole accompanied by lightly clad women dancing in circles while he shouted come-ons. He was later sacked.
Source: [Calendar Riots]

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon is condemned to three years in prison & fined 3,000 francs for one of his lampoons published in the newspaper Le Peuple. The unhappy tribunal explains the reasons for his harsh sentence:

Dissatisfaction with the Communist regime leads to exile during 1920s. In 1931 he returned to Russia & formulated central principles of Socialist Realism, which became doctrine in Soviet literature. Died suddenly in 1936 — possibly a victim of Stalin. Wrote Mother & The Lower Depths.

1871 -- France: Paris Commune, over 200,000 people turn out at the City Hall to see their newly elected officials, whose names are read to great & festive acclaim, making this day a revolutionary festival. The red flag, raised over all public buildings, is emblematic of the Commune.

1884 -- US: Cincinnati townspeople, unhappy authorities had not handed out a severe enough punishment to confessed murderer William Berner, show their displeasure by burning down the local courthouse. The State Militia is called out to restore order; in the ensuing battle, 42 were killed & 128 injured.

1892 -- France: François Ravachol, alias Leon Leger, anarchist expropriator & dynamiter, is arrested in Paris at the Very Restaurant, 22 Boulevard Magenta, for having blown up the homes of Benoit, the judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal, & Bulot, the deputy prosecutor of the republic.

Sentenced to death by the tribunal for the murder of a rich beggar, the hermit of Chambles, Ravachol climbs the scaffold singing at the top of his voice the anticlerical song "Pere Duchene."

1909 -- Novelist Nelson Algren (A Walk on the Wild Side) lives (1909-1981), Detroit, Michigan. Grew up in Chicago in a poor Polish area; served a four-month jail term for stealing a typewriter. Algren joined a John Reed Club & edited the experimental magazine New Anvil. Heavy drinker & gambler, involved with Simone de Beauvoir.

Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Moms. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own.

1910 -- First flight of a seaplane. The plane, called a Hydrovion, was created by Frenchman Henri Fabre. Using a 50 horsepower rotary engine, Fabre flew 1650 feet on water.

1911 -- France: Part of the Bonnot Gang is caught & killed by cops after months of joyous bank robbing & other escapades. Many letters had been sent publicizing their actions & taunting the police. Comprised of unemployed anarchistes, the Bonnot Gang received much enthusiastic response from the public.
[Details / context]

1911 -- US: On or about this day (late March) Red Emma Goldman delivers six lectures in Minneapolis & three lectures in Omaha.

1941 -- Virginia Woolf, 59, author/feminist, ends her life in the River Ouse. She leaves a note for Leonard:

"I have a feeling I shall go mad. I cannot go on longer in these terrible times. I hear voices & cannot concentrate on my work. I have fought against it but cannot fight any longer. I owe all my happiness to you but cannot go on & spoil your life."

1960 -- US: Two anti-payola bills introduced in Congress by Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Representative Emanuel Celler of New York. He blames payola for "the cacophonous music called rock & roll" & claims it would never have achieved popularity, "especially among teenagers," if not for payola.

1960 -- Scotland: Belt of Scotch? 20 firemen trying to put out a fire in a warehouse full of scotch whiskey are crushed by a collapsing wall after the whiskey explodes, Glasgow.

1962 -- US: New York City Fifth Avenue Coach employees return victoriously to work as the company abandons operation to NYC authority. Birth of MABSTOA.

After King himself had been led from the scene one 16-year-old black boy is killed, 60 people are injured, & over 150 arrested. Violence at the march persuades King to return to Memphis the following week.

1976 -- US: Organized Crime? The FBI, largest & highest US police agency, discloses it burglarized the Socialist Party 92+ times between 1960 & 1966. The price of freedom is vigilance — or is that vigilante?

1979 -- US: A Three Mile Island cooling unit fails, leading to a meltdown that uncovers the reactor's core. Amid the worst nuclear disaster in US history, it takes Pennsylvania authorities three days to advise pregnant women & children to evacuate. Thousands flee the Harrisburg area. The men — apparently born macho mutants — hang around for their daily dose.

In London demonstrators demanding action on poverty, jobs & climate change called on G20 leaders to pursue a new kind of global justice.

Police estimated 35,000 marchers took part in the event. In Berlin, thousands of protesters took to the streets on Saturday with a message to the G20 leaders: "We won't pay for your crisis." Another march Frankfurt attracted as many as 20,000 people. In Rome, several thousand protesters took to the streets. In Paris, around 400 demonstrators dumped sand outside the stock exchange to mock supposed island tax havens.

Meanwhile, in Chile where "warm-ups" to the London G20 are scheduled later in the forthcoming week, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told the Chile meeting that everyone was suffering from the recklessness of those who had turned the world economy into "a gigantic casino".

2011 -- US: Massey Mines hit with 80 Citations for safety violations. Massey's citations are among 166 issued at eight mines in five states during special inspections in February. Upper Big Branch mine cited for 1,300+ safety violations from 2005 through 2010, with 50 citations in the 30 days leading up to the deadly West Virginia coal mine explosion that killed at 29 miners in the worst mining disaster in the US in 40 years. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/28/massey-safety-violations-2011_n_841521.html